Blog

Honey bees are part of the Hymenoptera order are the only remaining bees of the Apini tribe of the Apis genus. Today there are seven species of honey bee, although throughout history six to eleven species have been noted.

The Honey bee is believed to have originated in South and Southeast Asia. Fossil records indicate that they were present 35 million years ago in Europe, but studies have not indicated that is where they are from, only that they were there. Now they can be found way beyond there native land, on every continent with the exception of Antarctica.

Honey bees are only about ½-inch long and are yellow with black bands around its abdomen. They see through compound eyes that consists of hundreds of tiny eyes known as ommatidia.

The honey bee is a social insect. They live in colonies of 20,000 to 40,000 bees in a hive that they created. Inside the hive the bees are divided into three castes or organized groups. These groups are the workers, drones and the queen.

Worker

The worker bees make up about 98% of the bees in a colony and have the task of maintaining the hive. They are female bees that can not reproduce and live only six weeks if born in summer or till spring if born in fall.

The worker bees have many tasks. They are responsible for building the hive and its upkeep, for gathering nectar, (they later turn to honey, pollen, water and sticky residue from plant to seal the hive. They are also responsible for cleaning the hive, controlling the temperature, caring for the young and tending to the queen and drones.

The worker bees are also the protectors of the hive. At the tip of their abdomen is a barbed stinger and poison gland. Once the stinger has been used it detaches from the abdomen and the bee dies.

Drones

The drones are male honey bees and there are only a few hundred in a hive. They have no stinger, can not collect pollen or secret beeswax, they can't even feed themselves, the worker bees do it for them.
The sole purpose for drones is to mate with the queen. The eyes of the drone are larger than those of the workers; this is so they can see the queen when in flight. After mating takes place a drone will die right away.

Drones only live about eight weeks. As fall get near the worker bees kick any remaining drones out of the hive, to die.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Georgia;color:black"&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;die.&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Georgia;color:black"&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
Queen&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
The&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="apple-converted-space"&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.associatedcontent.com/topic/104639/queen_bee.html" title="queen bee"&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span style="color:#0062A6"&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;queen bee&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="apple-converted-space"&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;is larger
than the other bees and her one main purpose is to lay eggs. She will mate with
anywhere from 13 to 18 drone bees, while in flight, and collect millions of
sperm cells that will last her entire life.&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
On a daily basis the queen can lay 1,500 eggs,
although an extremely health and well malted queen can lay up to 3,000 eggs
daily during spring. She is surrounded at all times by young worker bees who
are there to tend to her needs including cleaning and feeding her "royal
jelly."&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
The queen has a straight stinger at the tip of her
abdomen and unlike worker bees, she can use it over and over again without
dying. The life span of a&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="apple-converted-space"&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.associatedcontent.com/topic/104639/queen_bee.html" title="queen bee"&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span style="color:#0062A6"&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;queen bee&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="apple-converted-space"&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;is
anywhere from 2 to 8 years.&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
The honey bees means of communication if through
dancing. The Round Dance and the Waggle Dance are the two most common dances,
although there are others.&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
The Round Dance is performed when a worker bee has
found a new source of food that is closer than 300 feet from the hive. She will
dance around in a circle one way than the other. Other worker bees will mimic
her movement taste the pollen or nectar she brought, then spread out and search
for it.&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
The Waggle Dance is performed when the new sources
of food is more than 300 feet from the hive. She will dance a half circle,
turn, run straight and wiggle her abdomen, then dance a half circle the other
way. A figure eight is made. Depending on where she makes her run depends on if
the food is to the left or right of the sun. How fast the dance is performed
and the buzzing noise from the worker will tell how far away the food is.&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
The honey bee goes through four stages of
development with each stage causing big changes.&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
First the queen lays a small soft egg in an empty
cell of a honeycomb.&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
After three days the egg hatches to reveal a
wormlike larva. For the first few days worker bees feed the larva royal jelly
then they are switched to pollen and honey. Only the larva that is to become a&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.associatedcontent.com/topic/104639/queen_bee.html" title="queen bee"&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span style="color:#0062A6"&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;queen bee&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="apple-converted-space"&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;will
continue to get royal jelly.&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;o:p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/o:p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

After ten days the larva will quit eating and form a cocoon around itself. An adult worker bee will put a protective wax cap over the cell. Inside the cell, wrapped in its cocoon, a pupa starts developing looking less

like a worm and more like a bee.

Lastly a developed adult bee chews through the wax cap and out of the cell.

Queen

The queen beeis larger than the other bees and her one main purpose is to lay eggs. She will mate with anywhere from 13 to 18 drone bees, while in flight, and collect millions of sperm cells that will last her entire life.

On a daily basis the queen can lay 1,500 eggs, although an extremely health and well malted queen can lay up to 3,000 eggs daily during spring. She is surrounded at all times by young worker bees who are there to tend to her needs including cleaning and feeding her "royal jelly."

The queen has a straight stinger at the tip of her abdomen and unlike worker bees, she can use it over and over again without dying. The life span of a queen beeis anywhere from 2 to 8 years.

The honey bees means of communication if through dancing. The Round Dance and the Waggle Dance are the two most common dances, although there are others.

The Round Dance is performed when a worker bee has found a new source of food that is closer than 300 feet from the hive. She will dance around in a circle one way than the other. Other worker bees will mimic her movement taste the pollen or nectar she brought, then spread out and search for it.

The Waggle Dance is performed when the new sources of food is more than 300 feet from the hive. She will dance a half circle, turn, run straight and wiggle her abdomen, then dance a half circle the other way. A figure eight is made. Depending on where she makes her run depends on if the food is to the left or right of the sun. How fast the dance is performed and the buzzing noise from the worker will tell how far away the food is.

The honey bee goes through four stages of development with each stage causing big changes.

First the queen lays a small soft egg in an empty cell of a honeycomb.

After three days the egg hatches to reveal a wormlike larva. For the first few days worker bees feed the larva royal jelly then they are switched to pollen and honey. Only the larva that is to become a queen bee will continue to get royal jelly.

After ten days the larva will quit eating and form a cocoon around itself. An adult worker bee will put a protective wax cap over the cell. Inside the cell, wrapped in its cocoon, a pupa starts developing looking less like a worm and more like a bee.

Lastly a developed adult bee chews through the wax cap and out of the cell.

The queen is able to choose the sex of the offspring. Once the egg reaches her oviduct she can decide to use sperm from her sperm theca and fertilize the egg or to leave it unfertilized. Eggs that get fertilized become worker bees or a queen beeif fed only royal jelly. Eggs that go unfertilized become drones.

The number of days for full development of the egg to adult depends on what the egg is going to be. Worker bees take 21 days to go from egg to adult, drones need 24 days and future queens require 16 days.

The honey bee is important for pollinating crops such as apples, apricots, cherries, pears, watermelon, cantaloupes, alfalfa, cabbage, cotton, turnips and much more. They pollinate one-forth the crops in the United States, with a value of these crops estimated at $10 billion yearly.

Fred Patenaude, Leading Canadian Rawfoodist writes in this article. What to watch when combing food

Sugar and Fat

The main combination to avoid is sugar and fat. Sugar being any type of sugar such as fruits, dates, refined sugar, or anything sweet. Fat includes oils, avocados, nuts, and any other type of fatty foods.

The reason is that fat takes a longer time to digest, while sugar tends to digest quickly.

When the two are mixed together in sufficient quantities, the sugar will ferment. Say hello to gas and bloating!

So the combinations to avoid include: dates and nuts, nuts and dried fruits, adding fat to fruit smoothies (including oils, nuts, etc.), and obviously eating fruit or sweets at the end of a meal.

However, let me also say that although this is the most important rule to follow, it is not completely rigid either. A little occasional combo of fruit and fat are okay, but generally, you'll find that avoiding this combination most of the time will solve a lot of your digestive problems.

Sugar and Starch

Another very bad combo is the combination of cooked starch and sugar, so this one obviously doesn't apply to a raw food meal. Starch includes bread, potatoes, pasta, etc.

This combinations leads to a lot of gas and fermentation. Examples include: raisin bread, all pastries, all cakes, all cookies, and eating sweets after a meal!

Concentrated Foods

You can understand the philosophy and science of food combining by understanding one simple idea: it's best to eat only one type of concentrated food at a meal.

Concentrated foods include anything that's not a fresh fruit or vegetables, or anything that's high in fat. For example, bread, meat, potatoes, nuts, seeds, avocados.

The reason is that concentrated foods take more time to digest, and when they are mixed together,

A British pharmacist ponders over the delicate relationship of sugar metabolism, obesity and sleep in this Hibernation Diet video. Can anybody actually loose weight by taking generous amounts of Honey? According to Mike we burn 70% of fat during rest and sleep. Fueling honey to the Liver which is stored as Glycogen regulates the blood...See More

1.Start by putting the cabbage and the water in the blender.
2.Start the blender at low speed and then advance the blender to high speed and blend for 10 seconds or less. Be careful not to blend it too much.
3.Pour the blended cabbage and water into a glass jar with a tightly fitting lid
4.Ensure there is at least 1 inch of space above the mixture/liquid to allow room for expansion, and screw the cover on tightly.

5.Keep the jar in a place that is about room temperature for 3 days. Room temperature is about 72°F or 22°C.
6.After 3 days (72 hours) strain off the liquid rejuvelac, and save it (liquid) in a glass or jar, and discard the cabbage7.It is the liquid that is the fresh rejuvelac, which you drink for its powerful probiotics and Lacto bacteria in Rejuvelac will move bowel.

Almost all those who are used to honey of the pure variety can easily know when it has been adulterated but for almost people who do not see the difference between honey and white or refined sugar,it may not be easy for them to know when honey has been rendered impure.The following tips will,therefore, be of some help to such persons looking for good honey to buy or consume:

1. persons who are used to very sweet taste of honey can easily know when its sweet aroma has been tampered with.Also, pure honey honey has a distinct smell or scent.In this case experience is the best teacher.

2. The best honey takes a brown, pale yellow,or near brown appearance.Although some pure honey may look almost white,there is a good reason to suspect that such honey may have been rendered impotent.

3.In the process of adulterating honey it may become a little ticker than pure honey,for example,when flour or bread crumbs have been added to increase its quantity.Adulteration may take the form of adding water and sugar to honey.Flour is merely used to try to make the substance look thick as if it had been adulterated.

4. A drop of pure honey falling on the ground can picked up again because pure honey does not spread like water when on the ground or flat surface.Thus any substance said to be honey which spreads immediately on reaching the ground or flat surface should attract your suspicion.

Hey Diabetics, Unfiltered raw honey is being used by patients all over the world to treat their wounds , ulcers which wouldn't heal. People in middle east and Indian subcontinent already familiar with this property. However there is research going on in Universities in US to confirm this

Sider Honey and Asthma!
Honey with its abundant enzymes, vitamins and natural antioxidants is an excellent remedy for Asthma. There are lots of instances, where people using propolis, cinnamon along with Honey have healed chronic Asthma.

Due to heavy industrial pollution and toxic waste we see
epidemic of mental and autoimmune diseases around us. We can
not stop the industrial age but we can choose our response
carefully by eating sensibly , by minimizing our contact with
harmful chemicals.

***********************************************************************Honey helps in digestion
-Sugar molecules in the honey can convert into other types of sugar (fructose to glucose), the honey is easily digested by the most sensitive stomachs despite its high acid concentration. It also helps kidneys and intestines to function better. Another quality of the honey is that, when it is compared with the same amount of sugar, it gives 40% less calories to the body.

***********************************************************************Advances in Modern Medicine are mind boggling. Yet illness has increased exponentially. Look around how many people in your office are taking prescription medicines. There is something fundamentally flawed in our modern way of life. Path to happiness and health is saying No to artificial, processed, chemical ridden food and Yes to natural, organic, wholesome raw and cooked food and traditional medicines.
***********************************************************************

Every drop of honey holds the elixir of life. Our ancestors had understood honey's remarkable healing ability and had used it successfully in curing many diseases. Sidr honey has been reported to be good for respiratory infections,liver problems, stomach ulcers...See More

Bee, the poor creature is under lots of stress of modern day life. Tons of pesticides , mites, antibiotics and resulting fungal and virus load over the bees have taken a toll in the form of disappearance of its population. While jury is still out there to find out if there is a single or multiple causative factors, I would suggest to researchers that they start from clean slate and add suspected agents one by one to observe the occurrence of CCD. The fact that there are regions of the world where this is not happening e.g. Pakistan, Turkey , Australia can shed a light to this phenomenon.